Demand exists in a variety of applications for materials that exhibit damping properties. In general, damping is the dissipation of mechanical energy from a system. Damping can be important in applications such as electronics, sound isolation, automotive and transportation, building and construction, household appliances, industrial equipment, firearms, healthcare and medical devices, and personal and/or sports protection.
The capacity of a material for damping is related to its peak temperature of the tangent of delta (Tan Delta Peak Temperature), which can be determined by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) as described, for example, by M. P. Sepe in “Thermal Analysis of Polymers”, Rapra Review Reports, Vol. 8, No. 11, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference. The tangent of delta (Tan Delta) of a material is the ratio of its loss modulus (E″) to its storage modulus (E′). Consequently, as the value of Tan Delta increases, the response of the material is relatively more viscous than it is elastic, which thus provides greater damping. When graphically depicted against temperature, a Tan Delta curve includes a prominent peak at a particular temperature, which is the Tan Delta Peak Temperature and also can be representative of or comparable to the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the material. In general, a material with a Tan Delta Peak Temperature which is relatively nearer to an application temperature, such as at or above room temperature, will possess better damping properties than a material with a Tan Delta Peak Temperature which is relatively lower than the application temperature.
Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), which are polymer materials that exhibit elasticity while remaining thermoplastic, can be used for damping applications. Thermoplastic elastomers can include styrenic block copolymers (SBC), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), thermoplastic olefins (TPO), copolyesters (COPE), thermoplastic urethanes (TPU), copolyamides (COPA), and olefin block copolymers (OBC).
Some commercially available SBCs, such as HYBRAR 5127 available from Kuraray Co., Ltd., are known to exhibit vibration damping properties at room temperature. HYBRAR 5127 has a Tan Delta Peak Temperature that is reported to be 20° C. (i.e., about room temperature). Although HYBRAR 5127 can be formulated into conventional TPE compounds that exhibit effective room temperature damping, it is a relatively low molecular weight and non-hydrogenated material and cannot withstand processing at high temperatures required for some applications nor is it suitable for high temperature applications.
Other commercially available SBCs, such as HYBRAR 7125 available from Kuraray Co., Ltd., are hydrogenated and can withstand processing at the high temperatures. However, the Tan Delta Peak Temperature of HYBRAR 7125 is reported to be −5° C. Disadvantageously, conventional TPE compounds based on HYBRAR 7125 do not possess satisfactory damping properties at room temperature. As a further disadvantage, SBCs available under the HYBRAR brand can be more expensive than other commercially available SBCs, which can make such HYBRAR brand SBCs economically less desirable for some end-use applications.
Additionally, for some SBCs, it may be desirable to make the SBC softer by oil extension depending on processing and/or end-use application requirements. For example, paraffinic oil can be used as plasticizer to selectively plasticize the soft blocks of SBCs. Although adding paraffinic oil to the SBC results in lower hardness and lower melt viscosity, which may be desirable, doing so also severely decreases the Tan Delta Peak Temperature of the SBC, which negatively affects damping properties at room temperature.